In Morocco, as in the rest of Africa, the carbon adjustment that will be imposed as a sine qua non condition for access to the EU market presents a new challenge for exporting companies on the continent. The Moroccan Exporters' Confederation has opened the debate by focusing on Moroccan exports.
The European Parliament has voted on a resolution regarding the carbon border adjustment mechanism. This instrument allows the European Union to impose its environmental standards on foreign companies exporting to its territory.
As an exporting country, Morocco is directly involved in this new mechanism, especially since the EU is a major strategic market for Moroccan products, representing more than 66% of trade exchanges. Therefore, decarbonization becomes an essential condition for export, particularly in the current context of growing awareness of environmental issues on a global scale.
For Morocco, this can not only open new markets but also strengthen its competitiveness and image on the international stage.
So, how are Moroccan companies preparing for this new mechanism? What pathways and deadlines are there? To discuss and answer these questions, and many others, the Moroccan Exporters' Confederation organized the seventh forum on the "decarbonization of export industries" in Tangier, mobilizing over 200 exporting companies from the region.
Led and supported by leading figures in the field of decarbonization, these meetings are seeing growing interest from exporting companies. Tangier hosted its second forum for two obvious reasons that emerged consecutively. What was initially conceived as preparation for compliance with European regulations in the field of decarbonization is transforming into a true discovery of savings opportunities and thus competitiveness for our companies. The option to switch to renewable energies, when done following procedures, allows for substantial savings. Hence the interest shown by exporting companies not directly affected by the 2026 deadline to start now, even though their turn to initiate decarbonized production will come later.
The commitments made and realized by Morocco in renewable energy production are an additional encouraging factor.
Embracing all aspects of a successful decarbonization pathway, the Forum was opened with a speech by President Hassan Sentissi, who marked the Moroccan Exporters' Confederation's interest in decarbonization and highlighted the Confederation's collective action to preserve the positioning and competitiveness of exporting companies in service of "made in Morocco."
The President highlighted the increasing pressures from global environmental policies, such as the European Union's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). He explained that while this mechanism poses a challenge for Moroccan companies, it also represents an opportunity to stand out with sustainable and responsible production practices.
Next, representatives from the Chamber of Commerce, Industry, and Services and the Regional Investment Center of the Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima Region spoke, reminding everyone of the regional public action framework.
It then fell to two major speakers to outline the general framework and stakes of this major project, one from the public sector, Ahmed Baroudi, Director General of the Energy Investments Company, and the other from the private sector, Loic Jaegert-Hubert, President of the Clean Energy Commission of the Moroccan Exporters' Confederation and CEO of Engie Morocco.
Two main aspects were subsequently addressed. The technical aspect, through presentations by two engineers: Slimane Khalki, Energy and Mechanics Project Manager at Bureau Veritas Morocco, who presented the carbon footprint assessment process, and Nabil Jedaira, Senior Developer at Engie, who highlighted the latest global solutions in the renewable energy production market.
Financing and its solutions were also extensively discussed by Mokhlis Habti El Idrissi from Valoris Capital Fund for Intermediate-Sized Enterprises (ETIs) and Abdelmoughite Abdelmomumen, Director at Tamwilcom for SMEs/Microenterprises.
The high-level technical discussions that followed the presentations immediately emphasized the feasibility of certain aspects. No doubt was expressed about the environmental and even more financial interest and its impact on the competitiveness of companies.
Participants did not fail to praise the concrete and on-the-ground support provided to exporting companies by the Moroccan Exporters' Confederation in various regions of the Kingdom.
